1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process and apparatus carried out on a digital computer for converting a source program into an object program. Such processes are known as compiler programs or simply as compilers. The reader is directed to the DEFINITIONS set out at the end of this specification for the intended meaning of certain terms used in this description.
The value of data processing for solving business problems is well known. However, computers are complex machines, which must be programmed in order to solve these problems. Thus, industry has had to hire teams of highly skilled programmers, who with the assistance of company specialists having problems to be solved (e.g. accountants, economists, purchasing agents, managers etc.), write the programs for the computer to execute. The problems to be solved by each specialist are peculiar to his specialty, and unfortunately, are often very difficult for a programmer to understand. The programmer, on the other hand, works in a specialized language quite unfamiliar to the ordinary businessman. The businesman understands his problem and how to solve it manually, but the difficulty has been in translating the manual process of solution into a form conducive to a computer resolution. Such problems in communication between businessmen and programmers have greatly increased the costs and complexities of computer utilization.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior to this invention, a programmer was constrained to follow an order of writing his program that was logical for the computer to follow. In other words, the programmer was forced to concern himself with the order in which the formulas of his program were executed by the computer. This is a very difficult and tedious task.